Urantia- what do you think?

Maybe we should start all over, maybe we will,

Have you guys even read this book? I guess not if you're saying it is in any form Christian. Correct me if I am wrong but in the Christian Bible doesn't Jesus die for man's sin? Not so in the Urantia. It's easy to dismiss even as some nuts trying to create their own religion. But if you really read it, and read it over and over you will notice things that not only few notice in today's world but things I can only imagine even fewer people noticed or thought so long ago. If it's a fake, it was way ahead of it's time and is very applicable to today. Read it, the whole thing. More than once.

Originally posted by dark_matter06
Have you guys even read this book?

I doubt anyone with their unwise statements about the book took the time to actually read it. Mostlikely just search out on the internet other busybody statements of negitive natured comments toward the book.

To be fair, it isn't an easy read for many people. You have to have a hunger to eat such a large meal.

Mmk, I thought I had seen it all. This is the first time Ive seen anything about this book. Thanks for the heads up OP! I'm going to Mp3 this tonight out of sheer curiosity. I hope its not more zacharia stichen crap.

Originally posted by Digital_Reality
Mmk, I thought I had seen it all. This is the first time Ive seen anything about this book. Thanks for the heads up OP! I'm going to Mp3 this tonight out of sheer curiosity. I hope its not more zacharia stichen crap.

It's not Sitchin by a long shot. But it's not exactly light reading, either. A large portion of the book would best be understood with a big organizational flow chart, because it goes on and on about functions and hierarchies and who's in them and what rules over what, and what part of the universe is related to another part, for hundreds of pages.

Its kinda freaky having the synthesized voice from the 80's movie War Games read to me the origins of the planets. A flow chart is a novel idea! Flipping through the table of contents of this book is a massive read in itself.

This book goes into some great detail about many aspects of the bible that I was unaware of. This is a pretty impressive read and the author or authors were not uninformed hoaxers. I personally believe that this is the work of 3 or more people.

I agree with a above post that there is no way this came from one single mind. I can spot a few expert explanations and in order to be an expert at the level some of the sections in this book boasts you have to spend many years in study. To even cross reference and look up all of the facts in this massive book would be a major task let alone put it all into words.

After listening to a few mp3's on the blue book I'm sure that if I dive into 2k pages ill most likely only retain about 5%. Too much input!
This is defiantly a book to read in small doses and not all at once. I think ill buy a copy for toilet reading. It will make a fine addition to my Cabelas catalog collection.

Originally posted by Digital_Reality
... I personally believe that this is the work of 3 or more people.

I agree with a above post that there is no way this came from one single mind. I can spot a few expert explanations and in order to be an expert at the level some of the sections in this book boasts you have to spend many years in study.

Maybe as many as 18 people may have 'contributed' to this 'tome'.....at least that's the number of authors represented on this list of publications that are said to be 'apparent' source material for the U book.

Here's just a bit of that list....

# Breasted, James Henry, "The Dawn of Conscience" (New York: Charles Scribners Sons, 1933).

* Paper 95, "The Melchizedek Teachings in the Levant," sections 2-5; Paper 111, "The Adjuster and the Soul," preamble. Breasted's analysis and assessments of early Egyptian social idealism and religion -- including the teaching of Ikhnaton, the ka and the ba, Egypt's influence on the Hebrews, etc. -- are incorporated into the UB's corresponding discussions.

Bundy, Walter E., "The Religion of Jesus" (Indianapolis: The Bobbs Merrill Company, 1928).

* Paper 196, "The Faith of Jesus," preamble, sections 1-2, etc. Portions from every chapter of this book, whose thesis is that the human Jesus founded the religion of personal experience and that we must recover the religion of Jesus from the religion about Jesus are deftly concentrated in Paper 196, with the retention of many of Bundy's exact wordings.

# Hopkins, E. Washburn, "Origin and Evolution of Religion" (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1923).

* The whole of Paper 85, "The Origin of Worship," is taken directly and consecutively from the first eight chapters of this book, each section in the paper corresponding to a chapter in the book. Paper 92, "The Later Evolution of Religion," incorporates some of Hopkins' comments and ethnologic observation; the preamble and section 1 of Paper 104, "Growth of the Trinity Concept," are taken directly from Hopkins' chapters on "The Triad," "The Hindu Trinity," "The Buddhistic Trinity" and "The Christian Trinity."

source
urantiabook.org...

Hey! lookie!\

gabrielofurantia.net...

Gabriel of Urantia

www.youtube.com...
Urantia: from here to eternity, 1 of 2
www.youtube.com...

[edit on 093131p://bThursday2007 by Stormdancer777]

Podcasts
www.ubfellowship.org...

I went to a book store today. I asked if they had a copy and they did. 10 bucks, and that's cheep enough. I don't read books, but I did want to buy a copy. I listen to mp3s and read online.

Maybe I'll give it as a christmas Gift.

Ok so I did 3 hrs of mp3 on this book. Whew!

So basically we are an experiment on earth. Watched and somehow indirectly controlled by Adjusters trough a form of subconsciousness.The lower your ring status is the more you are one with what your Adjuster is trying to help you achieve.

The universe is a grand theater with beings or whatever watching over us and keeping track of our progression while adjusters try to get their souls to achieve 1 ring status.

There is also a board of planetary supervisors comprised of twenty-four onetime Urantians. John " the Baptist" at the time of this books conception was on this board of supervisors.

Oh and the closer you get to ring 1 status the better chance you have at being involved in the grand scheme of things related to the big show.

I know its a bit more complicated than that but in a nutshell thats the basic premise from what Ive heard so far.



[edit on 20-12-2007 by Digital_Reality]

reply to post by Digital_Reality


but this world is also retarded from the darkness of the rebelion, the lie of the lier's, blot of sin upon the world. This is what leads to the confusion of thinking.

Keeping in mind, that book is written to the bulk of people on the world, though there might be a few to take human form that are already achieved.

Also your statement "So basically we are an experiment on earth" isn't exactly a clear understanding. The world Urantia, "earth", is a life experiment world. A world in which newer life forms take place to see how they will be in the being.

The one thing this book and its contents do not need is evangelical preaching that claims it to be the absolute truth.

Given that it is authentic and manages to explain itself, it is stated that our language is not mature and developed enough to express all contexts needed. It therefore doesn't make any sense to claim it to contain any absolute truth. Perhaps some things have been expressed correctly, but we cannot possibly know which ones, except by making parallel comparisons to our science of the day.

Birth of this book, well.. They had meetings of about twenty people, and one would act as some sort of receiver. I don't remember correct terms that telepathy-believing people use. Anyway, after a session they would talk together and write it clean. This information I got from a theologian who actually studied the book and its origins comprehensively.

If authentic, this forces to think it is therefore not a direct communication.

Originally posted by Incarnated
reply to post by Digital_Reality

 

but this world is also retarded from the darkness of the rebelion, the lie of the lier's, blot of sin upon the world. This is what leads to the confusion of thinking.

Keeping in mind, that book is written to the bulk of people on the world, though there might be a few to take human form that are already achieved.

Also your statement "So basically we are an experiment on earth" isn't exactly a clear understanding. The world Urantia, "earth", is a life experiment world. A world in which newer life forms take place to see how they will be in the being.

I said : So basically we are an experiment on earth.

You said: The world Urantia, "earth", is a life experiment world.

Huh, yeah I believe it is exactly a clear understanding. Its the same thing said two different ways. Same thing!

The fact remains that the book is implying that we humans are a experiment on this planet. Much like an ant farm being played with by a kid.

But why? Why play this cosmic game of trying to invent life on planets? Have the planetary beings not evolved enough to just create the perfect colonies of beings on the planets suited for a long and happy life? Or would that take all of the fun of it? Is it more about the game of experimentation of life than it is about obtaining perfection and just existing.

So to me the whole process of them trying this and that with different species and waiting to see what happens and experimenting with life tells me that who or whatever is doing this to us is NOT all knowing and without fault or mistake. The story makes them seem like beginners in the creation of life.

To be frank they are imperfect! Practicing on our planet trying to obtain perfection through trial and error. So if there is a GOD that is seeing over these divine beings as they play the game of life on the planets what is his purpose? To give them pointers and set the rules for life creation. I'm still not seeing a grand reason for existing?

The book lacks a decent concept. It still has a feel of human thinking and understanding to it. It does not seem like this book has divine insight to anything.

And before anyone hits me with the comment that "everyone is not meant to understand" or "Humans cant grasp its true meanings" spare me!

Thats the point! The explanation and reasoning feels too human and is void of any kind of goal or perfect reasoning. But hey maybe it is true, who knows ? The beings that planted us here could be no more perfect or without mistake than us humans that they created in their image.

reply to post by Digital_Reality


Urantia Book does say that God is not perfect. Its also written there that it would propably be extremely difficult for any creatures or living beings to explain what exactly isn't perfect in God's thinking. One thing that makes this book stand, is exactly that: god is not omnipotent, but can be omnipresent in a certain context.


Uhm.. I didn't actually mean to say that humans can't understand or that not everybody can. Sorry it came that way, but my intention was honestly just that: saying what's written there. And no, I still don't take its message (the book itself) too seriously.


[edit on 21/12/07 by rawsom]

reply to post by rawsom

it is stated that our language is not mature and developed enough to express all contexts needed.

Bullcrap! We are worthy.

I'm weary of books that explain something then make excuses for the content not making sense. I'm sure divine interpretation can find a way to articulate the big picture. Its another way of saying if you find a hole in my story or any discrepancies than its because you just cant comprehend the truth.

reply to post by rawsom

Urantia Book does say that God is not perfect.

True, but that is a contradiction of the Bibles description if we are comparing the two. It does make more since to me that our creator is not perfect. Its obvious if you look around. Things around us are obviously the product of succession and evolution. These are not products of perfection.Unless the perfect plan by God was to be perfectly imperfect on purpose.


I don't have any answers. I'm just saying that the book feels like human thinking to me. I will say its a well thought out human explanation of what could be the truth.

Originally posted by Digital_Reality
True, but that is a contradiction of the Bibles description if we are comparing the two. It does make more since to me that our creator is not perfect. Its obvious if you look around. Things around us are obviously the product of succession and evolution. These are not products of perfection.Unless the perfect plan by God was to be perfectly imperfect on purpose.

I'm not a big fan of the bible, though, so I don't give much priority to it.

I'm not a believer of this book, but I like to have conversations about it as I'm quite interested in all things theological.

By Urantia Book, evolution is there defined to be the only process of creating beings with consciousness, awarenes of self and free will. Why a God couldn't and won't create such beings from scratch is beyond me, but that may have to have something to do with imperfection.

In evolution, given enough time, an self-aware species is given a choice to develop into perfection by themselves. In cynical terms that means that there may have been some species on some planet that was going there but were killed by a supervolcano. Though luck. ;-)

I don't have any answers. I'm just saying that the book feels like human thinking to me. I will say its a well thought out human explanation of what could be the truth.

It seems human like for me, too. Especially the first part of book which is basically hundreds and hundreds of pages of charts in philosophical format

Any hard believer would propably argue to this by saying that it was written to be human like to be more easily approachable.

Originally posted by Digital_Reality
I'm weary of books that explain something then make excuses for the content not making sense. I'm sure divine interpretation can find a way to articulate the big picture.

I tend to agree with this reasoning. It usually goes something like this: there's a concept to be told, but a language doesn't contain a symbol (a word) for it, so first they create a definition and then invent a symbol (a word) for it. What follows is quite logical. It was trivially possible to explain whatever concept, but to ease conversations when definition is a few words in length, a symbol for it is used instead.

Originally posted by Digital_Reality
reply to post by rawsom

 

Urantia Book does say that God is not perfect.

True, but that is a contradiction of the Bibles description if we are comparing the two.

It does have some interesting similarities with Gnostic Texts that suggest the existence we inhabit is the creation of a powerful entity (Adalbaoth or Saklas) that is not the actual universal "God" god. To the Gnostics, the real God is not exactly an entity, and is not understandable or comprehensible to us in any way. All prayers are therefore a laughable waste of time. (Reference the recently rediscovered "Gospel of Judas" for more of this idea.) The difference between the two Gods is what separates the pious churchgoer worried about Heaven and Hell from the individually enlightened gnostic.

In this regard, the Urantia book would appear to provide a kind of guide to the hierarchies of Saklas, which can be informative, but fails to shed light on a truer nature of the Universe, which is actually the manifestation of a distant, unknowable and incomprehensible God thing.